Rhetorical Analysis Great Movie
Amna Mahmood
Anne Malone
English 1101
28 October 2014
North by Northwest Essay In his essay “Great Movies” Roger Ebert says how our minds are “limit[ed]” when it comes to “curiosity” and we don’t let our minds explore great movies that aren’t just big hit movies. We are exposed to many movies from “100 years, in color and black and white, in sound and silence, in wide-screen and the classic frame, in English and every other language,” but we only watch movies that are considered “box-office winner[s]”. Ebert talks about an Iranian movie he had seen with around 1,000 children and parents, and how everyone watched the movie so attentively. He claims that people only want “to see what everybody else is seeing.” Our imagination is so lost in these movies that we don’t realize that there are numerous other movies with actual creative content (296-299). I believe in order for a movie to be considered great, it must have the following criteria’s; a good plot, in-depth visuals and sound, and hooks the audience. …show more content…
For a movie to be considered great the biggest thing it must have is a good plot.
In the movie North by Northwest, Hitchcock displays this very well. The movie has everything mystery, comedy, romance, thrills and suspense. The movie is about man who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of spies. He is kidnapped and ends up escaping, and in order to clear his name he’s on the run to find the man he is mistaken for as a woman helps him. He faces many dangerous situations which makes the movie so exciting. After every scene, you are left at the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. There are many scenes in the movie where you are left completely shocked. For example, we find out that George Kaplan is a made up agent to protect the real agent, Eve Kendall. That’s another thing we find out that Eve Kendall is actually an agent who acts as if she’s just a normal citizen who helps Roger
Thornhill.
Another major criteria that the movie accomplishes is in-depth visuals and sound. The movie has many scenes with several different locations. He makes it very clear in each scene as to where Thornhill is. For example, Mount Rushmore, New York’s plaza hotel, the United Nation’s complex, and the Chicago bus stop. With these shots it helps the audience better understand as to what is going on and where it leading to. It is the way Hitchcock emphasizes the visuals that makes him such a great director. He also uses a lot of sound in the movie. He used strong and loud sounds for more climatic and intense scenes and softer music for quiet scenes. You see this is a major part in the scene where Thornhill is waiting in the fields for Kaplan. I also noticed that the lighting in the movie goes softer in romantic and mysterious scenes. Lastly, the use of these visuals and sounds creates a smoothness effect which keeps the viewer engaged to the story.
Anne Malone
English 1101
28 October 2014
North by Northwest Essay In his essay “Great Movies” Roger Ebert says how our minds are “limit[ed]” when it comes to “curiosity” and we don’t let our minds explore great movies that aren’t just big hit movies. We are exposed to many movies from “100 years, in color and black and white, in sound and silence, in wide-screen and the classic frame, in English and every other language,” but we only watch movies that are considered “box-office winner[s]”. Ebert talks about an Iranian movie he had seen with around 1,000 children and parents, and how everyone watched the movie so attentively. He claims that people only want “to see what everybody else is seeing.” Our imagination is so lost in these movies that we don’t realize that there are numerous other movies with actual creative content (296-299). I believe in order for a movie to be considered great, it must have the following criteria’s; a good plot, in-depth visuals and sound, and hooks the audience. …show more content…
For a movie to be considered great the biggest thing it must have is a good plot.
In the movie North by Northwest, Hitchcock displays this very well. The movie has everything mystery, comedy, romance, thrills and suspense. The movie is about man who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of spies. He is kidnapped and ends up escaping, and in order to clear his name he’s on the run to find the man he is mistaken for as a woman helps him. He faces many dangerous situations which makes the movie so exciting. After every scene, you are left at the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. There are many scenes in the movie where you are left completely shocked. For example, we find out that George Kaplan is a made up agent to protect the real agent, Eve Kendall. That’s another thing we find out that Eve Kendall is actually an agent who acts as if she’s just a normal citizen who helps Roger
Thornhill.
Another major criteria that the movie accomplishes is in-depth visuals and sound. The movie has many scenes with several different locations. He makes it very clear in each scene as to where Thornhill is. For example, Mount Rushmore, New York’s plaza hotel, the United Nation’s complex, and the Chicago bus stop. With these shots it helps the audience better understand as to what is going on and where it leading to. It is the way Hitchcock emphasizes the visuals that makes him such a great director. He also uses a lot of sound in the movie. He used strong and loud sounds for more climatic and intense scenes and softer music for quiet scenes. You see this is a major part in the scene where Thornhill is waiting in the fields for Kaplan. I also noticed that the lighting in the movie goes softer in romantic and mysterious scenes. Lastly, the use of these visuals and sounds creates a smoothness effect which keeps the viewer engaged to the story.